Sally woke up screaming in a cold sweat. The dream was always the same. She and Chester were together running from something. Then a huge flood came and overtook them. She was able to grab onto some plywood floating by but he was washed away in the rushing water. Then as she made it to shore, the donkey from Shrek was standing there telling her, “It’s your fault, it’s all your fault.”

Sally looked over at the empty spot in the bed. It had been 8 months, 4 days, and 16 hours since her husband had died. Guilt always filled her body as she thought about the day that he had been taken from her life. They had fought that morning and she always wondered if his mind had been on their fight and not on his work. The water main had busted smashing him into the wall with a force that even superman wouldn’t have been able to withstand. But if he had been paying attention, maybe he could have gotten out of the way.

Mentally giving herself a shake, Sally got up and got dressed for work. She made her kids lunch and got them ready for the day. Her daughter was still dealing with her daddy’s death. She wasn’t as springy as she had once been. Her daddy meant everything to her. The sadness had crept into her eyes and Sally tried to comfort her all the time. But she knew that it wasn’t the same. Her son, the baby, didn’t know any different, but Sally wondered when he would start wanting someone to play with him.

She got them to their various destinations and made it to work. She logged onto her computer and opened up her email file as she began another day at work. Her coworker arrived and they began to do their daily business without too much effort. Glenda looked over at Sally, “You are getting too skinny Sally, you need to eat.”

Sally just smiled a little smile back at her, “I’m just not hungry.”

That night, Sally was trying to make dinner for her kids. She needed to reach something on the top shelf and got out the stepladder. As she reaching for the jar, the ladder fell and Sally could feel herself falling. She heard her daughter scream as everything went black.

When Sally awoke, the sky was purple. She lay on some grass that was bright vividly green. She could hear the sound of rushing water and she stood up and looked around. Nothing was familiar and there was a mystical quality to the air around her. It was like she was part of a finger painting. She moved her hand and could see the trail that her fingers left behind. She did a twirl with her body and looked fascinated at the way it looked when she was finished.

She decided to check everything out and began to walk towards the sound of the running water. When she got there, she saw a group of what she thought were horses drinking from the river. As they looked up, she saw that they were actually Centaur, half horse, half man. They looked at her and one of them called out, “Welcome to Etheria.” Then they turned and galloped away before Sally could ask them any other questions.

She wondered how she had gotten here and really where here was. She had her suspicions, but didn’t want to think about that possibility yet. She continued to look at the trees, the sky, the birds, all of which were overly bright, like they had been sitting in dye too long. She found a bridge and crossed over it. On the other side, she found a path which led into a cluster of trees. She looked back and could see where she had been, the trail that she left in the air. It was weird.

As Sally entered the grove of trees, she saw all sorts of interesting birds and insects. They reminded her of Alice in Wonderland, and Sally wondered what rabbit hole she had fallen into. She also giggled to herself remembering a joke about the blue pill and the red pill. Everything around her was strange and wonderous and Sally felt a calmness that she had not felt in a long time.

Up ahead, she saw a man. It looked like Chester. She ran up to him, it was him. She tried to hug him but came up empty handed. It was like it smeared the painting of him.

“Sally,” he said. “I am here but not here. You can hear me and see me, but can’t touch me. You can’t touch anything here. It’s not all real.”

Sally reached out to touch the tree next to her. All she managed to do was smear its image. She was amazed.

“Sally, listen to me,” Chester continued. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, we shouldn’t have fought, but I should have made sure that you weren’t unhappy to begin with. Then we would have had no reason to fight. And no matter what, that water main would have gotten me anyway. We had no way of knowing that it was going to happen and I never would have been able to get out of the way.”

“I want you to take care of yourself Sally, you’re way too thin. Our children need you. Tell my princess that her daddy loves her and that I send her kisses every night. Tell the big boy that his dad is proud of him. Most of all, make sure you tell yourself that I am here sending you my love everyday.”

Chester faded, leaving a smudge on the fabric of the space in front of Sally. Behind him there lay a cave and Sally was drawn towards it. She entered with no fear and saw a light at the back of it. She went towards the light and it got brighter and brighter.

“Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Allen can you hear me?” Sally could hear the voice getting stronger. She opened her eyes and saw a nurse standing over her. “Doctor, she’s waking up.”

“Well hello there Mrs. Allen, nice to have you back with the living. You gave us quite a scare.” Sally saw the doctor standing over her.

“My kids,” she managed to mumble around the breathing tube in her throat.

“They’re just fine. You daughter is quite smart, she knew that you needed help and called 911 right away. Now just get some rest and we will go get them for you.”

Sally sighed and relaxed a little. She looked up into the corner of the room and saw Chester smiling, waving and blowing kisses at her. She smiled at him and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Sally woke up in a cold sweat. This has been the third time it had happened. But instead of her dreams from her childhood decades ago, of horses, donkeys, mystical castles and kingdoms, it was a recurring nightmare.

A man, tall, dark, and terribly strong, a long, obviously dark alleyway, and mist up to her waist. She was in a dress, as if it was from the 19th century, but it was not of royalty, nor of a poverty struck woman. It was the dress of a prostitute. Then the footsteps made themselves known to her, in the wet pavement and the occasional puddle. At this point she would begin to breath a bit faster, a bit heavier. The heavy boots were thudding closer and closer. “Hel-hello?” she would say quietly, nervously.

The boots would stomp ever so closer. Sally would begin to run, her little shoes making a clicking noise as they hit the ground. This was followed by one thud after another, as the man came closer. “Who are you?! What do you want?!” she screams over her shoulder as she would ran. 'I have to keep going, I have to keep running.' she thinks. Looking around, she sees nothing but alternating red, orange, and brown bricks. No windows, no doors, no exit.

She starts to pant until she could not go on any further. Then she looks behind her to see the man, in his cloak and stove top hat. Jack the Ripper. She would open her mouth to scream, but every time he would silence her with his hand, and shove a knife into her abdomen. It would burn as it entered, the blood beginning to pour. After that she would collapse.

After a few seconds of sitting up in bed, the sweat running off of her cold skin, she felt very ill. Sally immediately ran to the bathroom and vomited. “Oh, God.” After flushing the toilet she tried getting up. “Why do my knees ache so badly?” she said. At that time, the phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hey, Sally, it's Mark. I...I think we might have a problem here...”
“Why is that?”
“You're on the pill, right?”

Time for comments. I am surprised that Tarhead didn't beat me to it, but I think he might have had to actually work yesterday since he commented on nothing last night!

I find it interesting that almost all of us chose to go with a sort of dream sequence. I liked the really short story about the husband's insanity. If it were a little clearer, it would make a great story.

I find it interesting that Mr Wright chose to show the woman having a nightmare about being tied down with a family and a child. Too often, it is the other way!

Mr. Penn, I loved your story up until the very last line. Are you talking about the birth control pill? Or some other substance which she might have been using to give her these hallucinations? Clear that up and it is a perfect story.

Tarhead, great story as always. I like the incorporation of things that European Americans seem to scoff at. But her sprirt guide is a donkey huh?

The other dream sequence on here (and you'll have to excuse me since I don't know everyone's name yet)was good. I was confused the first time I read it, but then I read it again and it made more sense. Like how she was acting on her dreams.

And last but not least Mr Potter....I don't know if I should touch your poem with a ten foot pole. Hahahaha, just teasing, sending a hug to you Russell. You have taken pervertedness to new heights. Just the word donkey sent you that way huh? Sheesh a good thing I didn't come up with something else!

7 played this time, some old faces some new faces. Okay, I am putting the names in the hat to see who comes up with next weeks sentence...

Okay I had my co-worker do it since I wanted to be fair...

Mr Christian Wright, you are the next contestant. I will send him a PM to let him know.

Please comment here on others works. How else will we grow not only as writers, but as critics and listeners if we do not post comments? To be a good writer, you must learn to read....okay so I made that up, but there has got to be a saying like that somewhere!

See you and your stories soon!

Your Friend has good taste Lori , just wondering if we get a statue like the oscars.

Im at work at the minute so ill comment on the others later I will put on my thinking cap for the next topic.

Sure...I'll give you a pat on the back for good behavior...does that count?